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[Aklyon]

Did you install something prerestart that would turn on at startup?

[Sappho]

I hadn't restarted in ages. The only thing I distinctly remember installing, I have already uninstalled, just in case it was the culprit. Didn't help. It's possible I installed other things as well, but I wouldn't remember. Certainly I have installed plenty of games, but the only processes I see running are not related to any games.

Apparently this is a common problem in Windows 7. Wheeeeee.

Edit: Ha. I noticed Windows pestering me for updates, as it almost always does. I told it to go ahead and update, and it seems to have stopped. I'll keep watching in case it was something else, but maybe it was stupid Microsoft itself sabotaging me...

Edit 2: I spoke too soon. It's still happening. Advice still sought. : (

[Aklyon]

Aside from skype call windows(which even interrupt fullscreen applications >( ), I've never had that problem, so I don't know if its really all that common. Have you tried closing all running programs (including antivirus if you have one) and opening notepad or something to see if it still grabs focus away?

[Sappho]

I closed every process except system critical ones and a file window. Still happened.

It seems to have stopped for the moment. I'm letting Windows install all its updates, then I'll see if it stops completely. I've disabled windows automatically checking for updates from now on. I've also disabled automatic updates on everything else I could think of that might have them. If this doesn't do it, I'm nearly ready to just wipe out the computer and do a complete re-install from scratch.

[foil]

Maybe try autoruns from MS and see if anything dodgy is loading at startup.

[MaximumZero]

Sappho, if you know how to regedit, this shouldn't be a problem.

Go to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER]>Control Panel>Desktop

Look for an entry with the name of "ForegroundLockTimeout". It's probably set to 0. Set it to 200000, and restart the computer.

[Sappho]

The problem seems to have been solved by letting Windows run all its updates and restart. So Microsoft itself was sabotaging me after all.

I have turned off automatic Windows updates. I told it not to even check for them anymore. Now I have a big irritating red warning X at the bottom-right of my screen all the time because my system is so horribly at-risk, but at least I am able to type and play games again.

[Aklyon]

There should be a setting named something like 'Automatically check but do not install updates'. It will pester you from time to time about actually updating, but it neither freaks out with the red X nor interrupts you with sudden updates.

[Sappho]

There should be a setting named something like 'Automatically check but do not install updates'. It will pester you from time to time about actually updating, but it neither freaks out with the red X nor interrupts you with sudden updates.

That's what I had it set on when this problem started. It seems it had checked and found updates, and I ignored it like I always do because in my experience, updating a perfectly functional system tends to cause problems. For some reason after I restarted, (presumably) the update checker started stealing focus from my programs. Or maybe it was stealing focus because it wanted to install and I was ignoring it. The strange thing is, aside from the small icon in the tray that is always there and I always ignore, there were no notifications or anything. Just a background process stealing focus.

[MadMalkavian]

What's a decent video card upgrade for the HP DC7900 that won't break the bank?

[MaximumZero]

How much is the bank?

[MadMalkavian]

How much is the bank?

Well to be honest I'm going to have to save up either way but at this time I don't know how much I could save up. Perhaps $40 USD a month at most. I might not even be able to start saving until after Christmas and I'd like to get it before May 2014 and preferably by March or April 2014.

Still got to talk to my payee about the damn thing but I'll likely have $120-$160 to save for it if she isn't already saving some of my money to begin with. In hindsight I might be asking too early, but it's never a bad thing to plan ahead. Let's just say my limit is $120 USD to start with, not factoring in sale pricing or current savings.

[Tellemurius]

HP DC7900 is a slim factor case so you can only shove in low profile cards, limits you alot unfortunately as AMD and Nvidia has not provided much in this size. Nvidia has about 2 decent cards sitting around the 50 to 90 range, for AMD they still have a bunch of small cards in stock and the best one for gaming 7750 sits around 100-130ish.

[MadMalkavian]

HP DC7900 is a slim factor case so you can only shove in low profile cards, limits you alot unfortunately as AMD and Nvidia has not provided much in this size. Nvidia has about 2 decent cards sitting around the 50 to 90 range, for AMD they still have a bunch of small cards in stock and the best one for gaming 7750 sits around 100-130ish.

What cards would these be if you mind me asking?

[Tellemurius]

lets see

Nvidia
GT620 52 bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130814
GT640 85 bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500308
I did not post the GT630 as there are some misconceptions thats its either an 620 overclocked card or a underclocked 640

AMD
6570 55 bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127611
7750 90 bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202002

theres probably cheaper versions of these cards too just newegg's site is really stupid for search and for most parts these cards are usually just renamed as the years go on with no improvements and these are the few cards that actually are new.